The National Geographic Channel’s special T-Rex Autopsy aims to try and help answer why these big, scary creatures still hold our interest. Essentially, this is somewhat of a fake documentary, designed to show viewers what it might be like to stumble upon a recently deceased dinosaur.
A small group of researchers and veterinary surgeons took the opportunity to take a look inside the faux-dino, which was built based on the most recent research about the animal’s anatomy, says John Hutchinson. In addition, Hutchinson was an adviser to the TV autopsy special, that will air on National Geographic this Sunday night.
The T-Rex Autopsy Procedure
There were 4 individuals opening up the dinosaur. British veterinary surgeon Luke Gamble, paleontologists Matthew Mossbrucker and Steve Brusatte, along with paleobiologist Tori Herridge. Gamble is perhaps the one who deals with the messiest portion of the show, beginning the procedure by slicing off the T-Rex’s leg, with a chainsaw. The 4 then then began counting the rings on the T-Rex’s bone, which apparently is a real method, such as tree-ring reading, that scientists employ to decipher the age of animals, Hutchinson says. He does go on to admit, however, that the use of the chainsaw may have been a “bit extreme.”
The 4, led by Gamble, then take their sharp instruments and carve into the belly of the beast, removing what looks to be a very authentic looking trail of intestines, a gall bladder and the T-Rex’s stomach which was easily the size of a bean-bag chair. Their excitement for animal anatomy makes itself evident through the scripting as each of them are peeling back fake flesh.
What did we discover?
The T-Rex dinosaur itself pretty much shares the same dimensions as a real T-Rex, its total length being 46 feet and its total width being 5 feet. The modeling company Crawley’s Creatures that constructed the dinosaur, spent nearly 12,000 hours putting every component together, applying polyurethane foam with silicone rubber and polystyrene, as well as 34 gallons of fake blood. There are 20,000 goose quills lined on the back of the fearsome animal, and this coincides with the increasing scientific support that suggests most of the dinosaurs that existed had feathers or something similar to them, Hutchinson says.
Even mistakes were made
As a group of journalists stood by on set, from an observation deck, and watched the filming of the fake autopsy, Hutchinson was able to spot that the cross-section of the dino’s leg bones were inaccurate. The tibia and fibula had been mixed up. Hutchinson had no choice but to head down to the studio to make the behind the scenes people aware of this, the gaff was then fixed in post-production. How’s that for a behind-the-scenes look?
Go Inside The Autopsy of a Recreated T-Rex
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